When Earl’s bride Morgan vanishes in the Smoky Mountains on their honeymoon, the former Navy SEAL is certain she’s been abducted. The park rangers disagree, and after a storm washes away any potential evidence, they call off the official search. Then another man loses his daughter in the same area. Can one last lead help Earl find Morgan before he loses her forever?WATCH THE BOOK TRAILER

At a sporting event I had the opportunity to interview Jim Pepperman and Earl Helmsly from The Pepperman Mystery Series.

Bill: Jim, I believe you’re the lead character of Pepperman’s Promise and Perplexity and Earl, you have the lead in Panic Point. Tell me how your role came about, Jim.

Jim: In the spring of 1966, I was a junior in high school at Odessa Permian. We’d won our first Texas state football championship in the fall of that school year. Getting ready for my senior season was the most important thing to me. I hoped we could have back-to-back championships. Then something happened and I started my senior year in Belleville, New Jersey.

Bill: That must have been a shock to your system.

Jim: You bet it was. After my family moved to Belleville, I got a job at a diner managed by Glynna Helmsly, Earl’s mother. That’s how our families met. The connection clicked right away. It was hard being the new guy from Texas, but the Helmsly’s helped me make the adjustment.

Bill: Earl, how old were you when the two families met?

Earl: I was about three. When Jim came to our house, my twin brother Burl and I would latch onto his legs and he’d have to Frankenstein walk us up to our porch. I’m sure I was a pest.

Bill: Jim, I understand Pepperman’s Promise is not a mystery. Can you tell me a little more?

Jim: I tell my story beginning at age seventeen through my twentieth high school reunion. The main character in each mystery will be someone you meet in Pepperman’s Promise. Many of my fans told me they loved Glynna Helmsly and her family. I thought it was time to let someone else take the lead.

Bill: Okay Earl, this is your chance.

Earl: What makes this easy for me is I get to tell you about a smart, beautiful woman I met in a common situation, but an awkward circumstance.

Bill: Who is this woman?

Earl: Morgan. I’m going to tell you how a guy from New Jersey meets a Tennessee woman. She ran track in high school and college, setting an SEC record in the 200 meter. She’s an avid camper and that’s where my story begins.

Bill: I’m sorry to say our time is up. I guess everyone will have to read Panic Point to find out how your story unfolds. Thanks, guys.

Bill grew up in the oil and gas refinery town of Phillips in the Texas Panhandle. After graduating from college with a master’s degree, he spent most of his career working for a major insurance company as an agency manager and consultant.

As his retirement was on the horizon, he had an idea about a book. That story, Pepperman’s Promise, became the prequel to The Pepperman Mystery Series, and Perplexity and Panic Point, the next two books in the series, are now available.